


Corrupted Reset

by sk_ype



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:02:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22672987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sk_ype/pseuds/sk_ype
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	1. The Beginning of the Past

Sans closed his eyes, but he could see everything. He could see the blood on the bright golden walls, crumbled bricks lay about, broken by bones. The mangled body of Frisk, or who he thought was Frisk, lay bloodied on the glistening floor, a worn dagger lay next to them. The fight had gone on for hours on end, but every time the human died, Sans’ energy recovered. Bones and blood flashed around him again and again, like a living nightmare, until everything went white and they were back in the unharmed corridor. The shut eyes of Frisk focused on him, the blade held tight in between their small fingers. Sans opened his eye sockets, and stared right back. Everything was still for a second. Then, he spoke:

“you’re really kind of a freak, huh?”

Frisk cringed for a moment and looked away. The purple stripes on their shirt flashed green and Sans could hear a slight whisper. He paid no attention. Weird things like this have been happening; a different human screamed when Frisk was hurt, a different human spoke on the phone, and a different human held that knife that killed almost every single monster in the underground. He knew what was next. He knew that he couldn’t survive, but the burning vengeance and madness to get revenge for his friends was like a flame that kept him going. He needed revenge, and he was going to make the human pay for what they did to everyone he loved. He sighed, regaining the strength he'd built up for this moment.

“ready?”

Black flashed around the two of them and the comforting golden atmosphere dissipated into nothingness as Sans prepared his first attack. His SOUL dripped with overflowing magic, ready to turn Frisk into something worse than dead. He closed his eyes and focused, reaching out to the familiar yet distant feeling that was his magic. Bones flowed around him, patterning themselves in complex shapes. Blasters formed out of thin air, shouting their pure rage into the battlefield that held the person who made all his happiness disappear.

Sans started his dialogue, just like always. He talked of all the resets and how it was the human’s fault, and how he once had a dream that he failed to catch. The words spilled out of his mouth like a waterfall, and even if he wanted to, he couldn’t make himself stop. He didn’t even think about what he was saying before he said it; he already remembered. He was tired of the resets, the loops; he just wanted freedom from the prison that was this child’s determination. What did he do to deserve this? What did the monsters do to deserve to be massacred? Why does this child act like they didn’t do anything wrong when they clearly did?

The fight went on. The magic from his SOUL echoed throughout his body, stealing his strength and forcing it into his draining attacks. His body heated underneath his heavy jacket, sprouting bulbs of sweat on his forehead. The end was getting closer, and both Sans and the human could feel it. Frisk had never gotten this far into the fight, and Sans wasn’t too sure what to say. The fatigue that plagued him was almost unbearable. Then, a thought arose in his mind.

“hey, buddy. do you remember me? all those good times we had? why don’t… why don’t you just lay down your weapon and…” Sans sighed, “…well, my job will be a lot easier.”

Frisk’s face softened. They looked down at their knife, then back at Sans. Slowly, their grip on the knife lessened and their knife dropped to the floor with a clink. Tears welled on the corners of Frisk’s closed eyes. For a moment, Sans remembered the pacifist run before this. When he had almost gone to the surface, when the human was friends with everyone, and when he finally got to meet the humorous lady behind the door at the RUINS. But this was not the same human. This human had brutally killed all his friends, and smiled while doing so. This human didn’t bat an eye when their own mother begged for their mercy. This human wasn’t Frisk.

Still, Frisk, or who Sans thought was Frisk, now had tears streaming down their face and their arms outstretched. Sans forced an empathetic expression and accepted the murderer’s embrace. He could feel the burning tears sink into his jacket, and could hear the whimpers of the human he was hugging. Then, warm blood soaked into his shirt as he pierced through the human’s skin with a single bone. The human gasped in pain and coughed up blood before going limp in his arms.

“if we’re really friends,” Sans said with tears in his eyes as he remembered the real Frisk, “you won’t come back.”

\---

Sans opened his eyes once more, expecting to be in the sunlit corridor again. But this time, he was in a neatly made twin sized bed next to another one of similar nature. He sat up and observed his surroundings. First of all, he felt much more energized and his posture was actually decent for once. He jumped out of the bed and found himself slightly smaller than usual. He was confused, but wanted to cherish this moment for as long as he could. Birds chirped outside, the bright sun kissed his face, and clouds drifted lazily outside the window. The bed next to the one Sans slept in moved. He glanced over and saw what looked like Papyrus but as small as an actual bean. The bean Papyrus sighed as he flopped over, then slowly opened his eyes.

“Sans?” Papyrus said, his eyes widening, “Why are you crying?” Sans didn’t even notice the tears flowing down his cheeks. Sans ran to Papyrus’ bed and wrapped his arms around his bony little head. “Sans? Are you okay?” Papyrus asked, concerned. “yeah... i’m fine. just a nightmare,” Sans replied. Small arms wrapped around his own head as Papyrus comforted his brother. “It’s okay,” Papyrus said softly. A faint creak interrupted the two of them. A familiar voice spoke to them. It was deep, comforting, and sounded strangely like Sans’ but more professional and sophisticated. “Sans? What happened here?” the new voice asked. “Oh! Hi dad!” Papyrus said excitedly, letting go of Sans to run over to the stranger before latching onto his legs. “Sans?” the stranger said again. Sans looked up at the stranger. He was a large skeleton, with a head that resembled one much like Papyrus. He had circular glasses that were taped onto his head, and multiple dark bags under his eyes. He had a black coat on with a striped neck scarf and a white undershirt. “Are you alright?” he asked. “me?" Sans asked, "i’m fine.” Sans said. The stranger stared at him for a moment before turning around and picking up Papyrus. He descended down the hallway, but Sans lingered. He wanted to explore this place, and think about what was happening. Why didn’t the reset bring him back to Snowdin instead of wherever this place was? Did the kid even reset? What happened?

“Sans, are you going to get breakfast or not? It’s getting cold and I have work.” The stranger hollered. “coming!” Sans yelled back at him. His voice was much more high pitched, like a child. Maybe he was a child. He seemed to feel the part. Sans looked at the mirror across from Papyrus’ bed. His smile looked much more genuine, he seemed to have lost a tooth recently, and the bags under his gaping eyes were gone. He was a child. He walked through the hallway and into the kitchen, where the stranger was sitting in a chair next to Papyrus, who was in a baby booster eating some form of cheerios. Sans hopped into a chair and was met with a fragrant slice of french toast. He grabbed the fork next to him and eagerly ate the delicacy. Stuff like this was rare when all you eat is spaghetti or hotdogs for every meal. The stranger smiled at him, and Sans noticed he was wearing a different coat. This time he had a white lab coat with a name tag that said “W.D. GASTER - ROYAL SCIENTIST.” That confused Sans even more. Wasn’t Alphys the first Royal Scientist? It didn’t matter now. This Gaster person was already getting his bags ready to leave. “You boys know what to do once I’m gone, yes?” Gaster asked. Papyrus nodded with a mouthful of cereal. Sans nodded as well, though he had no idea what he was supposed to do. Sans waited until Papyrus was finished with his cereal then tried to get some context on what he was supposed to do. “so, do you remember what we’re supposed to do?” Sans asked. It was a lousy way to find out, but Sans didn’t have anything to build on. Papyrus scrunched up his face. “Why? Do you not remember?” Papyrus asked. “no, i’m just testing you,” Sans said, winking. This seemed to please Papyrus. “We have to get ready for school!” he said with the enthusiasm Sans lived for. “And you have to get dressed,” Papyrus added. Sans blinked and looked around. Papyrus was already completely dressed, shoes and all, so any shoes laying around were probably his. He caught sight of a pair of small blue shoes that would probably also fit his older self. He grabbed them and climbed the stairs to his and Papyrus’ room.

He opened the closet door and immediately knew what was his. Even as a child, he was still unorganized. There were red and orange shirts hung neatly on hangers whilst white shirts were thrown carelessly on the floor. He picked one up and pulled it over his head, then looked around for his hoodie. He found it underneath his bed, covered in dust, but clearly used recently. He pulled his arms through and slipped his feet into his laced shoes. He didn’t bother to tie them. He knew Papyrus would probably harass him about it, given that his personality didn’t change too much, but he kind of needed the reminder that everything was somewhat back to normal for now. The human hasn't killed anyone yet, and Sans hopes to keep it that way.

\---

Papyrus stood at the front door, tapping his foot impatiently as he watched Sans slowly get ready. He was acting aloof, like he didn’t know anything. Papyrus knew if he asked his brother that he wouldn’t tell him. Sans never told anyone anything. Always keeping secrets. He also seemed lazier than usual. He was often slacking off, but never as much as he was now. He didn’t even bother tying his shoes. “Sans, why won’t you tie your shoes? You’re going to trip,” Papyrus said, annoyed. Sans shrugged, winking. “too lazy bro,” he said. Papyrus scoffed. “Let’s go. We’re going to miss the bus,” Papyrus said as he opened the door with Sans trailing behind. The standard yellow bus slid by and stopped at their house before folding open the doors. Papyrus walked towards the bus, his heavy backpack weighing him down. “need any help?” Papyrus heard Sans ask behind him. “I’m fine,” Papyrus said. He let Sans carry his backpack once and didn’t hear the end of it from the humans ever since. Of course, he didn’t tell Sans or his dad because he thought they would laugh at him or question his greatness. Papyrus was great, after all, and he couldn’t have anyone thinking otherwise.

Papyrus kept his gaze on the muddy floor of the bus as he felt the eyes of human children burning into his nonexistent skin. He wanted to cry, but he refused to embarrass himself more in front of what would be his future admirers. Papyrus walked all the way to the back of the bus and sat in the corner. Sans sat down right next to him and closed his eyes. Sans looked so tired. He never looked fatigued, but now he looked like he just pulled three all-nighters of nonstop reading like he did once in the past. Papyrus leaned against Sans’ sleeve. Sans opened his eyes and laid them upon him, then he smiled. It was a genuine smile. He looked beyond happy to see him. Papyrus smiled back at Sans; his smile was contagious.

The bus skidded to a stop at the Ebott Public School. Papyrus felt the anxiety creep up his spine. He tried shaking it off, but it still lingered. “you okay bud?” Sans asked him, looking concerned. “Yes, I’m fine. The great Papyrus is always okay!” Papyrus said with a shaky voice. Sans’ face softened. “okay. whatever you say, paps,” Sans said, clearly unconvinced. The tall doors to the school were held open by a doorstop wedged into the crack underneath the doors to allow students to pass through the building with ease. Sans had a bony hand gently laid against Papyrus’ back as if to make sure he wouldn’t lose him. They passed through the large arch and into the school. Humans and monsters chattered and gossiped while getting supplies from lockers. Papyrus felt Sans’ hand squeeze lightly on his back. Papyrus hid a fraction of his face in his scarf as he walked by. A group of humans looked at him and whispered to their friends, laughing. Papyrus didn’t mind it too much. He knew that they were probably just lonely and needed someone to help them, even if it hurt others.

\---

Sans’ eye glowed bright blue as he noticed humans mocking his brother. Papyrus was the light of his life, and if anyone said otherwise, they would pay dearly. Sans would make sure anyone bullying his brother would regret it, no matter the consequences. He’d watched Papyrus suffer before his eyes too many times, and he was sick of it. This bean Papyrus was the cutest little thing Sans had ever seen, and his heart melted whenever he looked at his younger brother. He would never forgive himself if he let anyone hurt him. He’d slacked off for far too long, and now, he might actually have a chance to change everything.

Then, the bell rang. Sans didn’t quite know what this meant, but he still followed Papyrus until he looked back and asked Sans what he was doing. At that point, he realized he had no idea. He didn’t know where to go, how to get there, or what he needed. He walked into a random class and it seemed the teacher recognized him. The sign next to the door said Ms. Dem, so Sans went over to the woman’s desk and asked where the front office was. “Um, wouldn’t you remember? You’ve been in this school for years now.” Sans started sweating. “uhh… well, i haven’t been to the front desk in a while and um…” Sans felt the beads of sweat dripping down his skull. Ms Dem seemed concerned. “It’s to your right. You can’t miss it,” she said. “thanks,” Sans replied, truly grateful. He speedwalked to the desk and was met with an old lady who had a resting bitch face. Sans was almost afraid to ask her for a copy of his schedule. “uh, excuse me miss?” Sans said. The lady looked up at him. “may i please have a copy of my schedule? i think i had a change and i don’t remember my classes,” Sans said. The lie seemed to work because the lady typed up something and he heard a printer turn on. A few seconds passed and the lady handed him a paper with what appeared to be his schedule.

“Have a good day, Sans,” the lady said, sounding annoyed. Sans had a feeling this wasn’t the first time he’d encountered this woman. He looked at his schedule and assumed it was first period. Apparently he had science class. Sans felt a little more optimistic, as he loved science. Although, he had no idea where the science room was. He looked to the column next to the once that said science. M.03 was the room number. He was in P.13, which he was assuming the P stood for Primary, and the M on his paper stood for Middle School. As far as Sans knew, there were three floors on the campus. They all looked the same. He was assuming each floor was for a different grade in education: Middle School, High School, and Primary, so he teleported to the floor above the Primary floor and walked to the nearest classroom. It started with M. luckily, it said M.01 so M.03 should be close. He walked about 30 feet and saw M.03 on a sign next to a door. The sign also said the teacher’s name: Mr. Walker.

Everything was silent when Sans creaked the door open. “You’re late,” Mr. Walker said. “i know,” Sans replied, sitting at the only empty desk. Mr. Walkers classroom had posters of cellular respiration, human body systems, monster body systems, magic compositions, and more. “As I was saying…” Mr. Walker continued, talking about the difference between humans and monsters, and how humans are fundamentally stronger than monsters. He described how monsters have weaker SOULs and why their SOULs are upside down instead of right side up. Sans somewhat took offense to his monologue, given that 20% of the students in the room were monsters, but as he listened to his speech he realized how things were before the war. Things were strangely peaceful, but he could feel the tension between the two races. There was still discrimination, but it wasn’t all out violence. “Sans? Sans, are you even paying attention?” Sans lifted up his head. He must have fallen asleep. “huh?” “Sans, you’ve been asleep for 15 minutes. Pay attention,” Mr. Walker said, sighing. “Okay, Sans. If you’re going to sleep during my class, you have to actually know about science. I’ll give you an easy question. What is LV?” Mr. Walker asked Sans, getting all up in his face. “level of violence,” Sans responded. “Good,” Mr. Walker continued, “How does one get this ‘Level of Violence?’” he asked. “you have to kill something to get execution points, or exp, and once you get enough, your level of violence increases,” Sans answered without hesitation. Mr. Walker seemed impressed. “Very good. But just because you know all of this doesn’t mean you can still sleep in my class, okay Sans?” Mr. Walker lectured, but Sans had already fallen asleep once more.


	2. Chapter 2

WARNING: This chapter may contain descriptions and imagery of gore. Please use discretion as you read through this chapter.

\---

Sans and Papyrus waited side by side as cars flowed into the pattern of traffic. Students, humans and monsters, talked and laughed, waiting for their parents to arrive to pick them up from school. Sans could feel the anxiety growing off of Papyrus, but Sans didn’t ask him about it, only held his hand, squeezing ever so gently to comfort him. The school bus packed some children in its bright yellow walls and drove on past. The smell of gasoline and smoke lay heavy and thick in the air, causing Papyrus to cough occasionally. After some time, Gaster pulled to the pickup entrance in a shining grey volvo and Papyrus started sprinting to the doors. Once they got inside the car, Gaster handed both of them a bag with some chicken nugs. “Just a little treat,” he said, and started driving home.

In the car, Papyrus and Gaster talked about each other’s day, Gaster describing his flower experiment and Papyrus talking about what he learned at school. Sans subconsciously followed their conversation, more focused on the nuggets than anything. The breading was soft and crunchy, and the meat inside melted in his mouth unlike anything he’d ever tasted. Papyrus ate it quickly without savoring it, but Sans couldn’t help but marvel at how new and interesting the surface food tasted. It was so much better than the food served at Grillby’s, probably because Grillby was forced to use food grown in waterfall for the fries and carrion or water sausages as the meat in his burgers. Sans didn’t judge him for it, but didn’t favor the taste. His ketchup though, man was the ketchup Grillby served heavenly. “How was your day, Sans?” Gaster asked, peeking at Sans in his rearview mirror. “it was okay i guess,” Sans said with a mouthful of food. Gaster chuckled. “Only okay?” he said jokingly. “yeah,” Sans said, distracted.

The ride home was silent afterwards other than the music quietly playing through the car’s radio. It was only humans who sang on the radio. He could tell because the announcers always said something along the lines of “...and here’s another song by the human ____!” The tension between the monsters and humans was so obvious you could cut it with a knife. Papyrus didn’t seem to notice what was happening, but whenever the radio host announced the next song was by a human, Sans could see the disgust twist in Gaster's face.

When they arrived at their house, Papyrus ran upstairs to his room and Sans started to follow, but Gaster stopped him. “Wait,” he said, “I want to talk with you.” Sans felt nervous. He didn’t know anything about Gaster, other than he was a scientist and his father, so if he asked him anything personal Sans would have no idea how to react. Nonetheless, Sans nodded, slipped his backpack off his shoulder, and followed Gaster to the dining table. Gaster sat at the head of four seated table, and Sans sat across from him. Gaster pulled out a paper from his long white lab coat and handed it to Sans. Sans read the paper carefully, whispering some parts out loud. The paper was a report, and a report about how the humans are becoming more and more violent and discriminate the monster race. The paper was a letter addressed to Asgore. It read:  
-  
Dear Asgore,

My studies in the behavior of humans towards monsters and in the power of human SOULs has led me to the conclusion that humans themselves are becoming more and more of a threat towards the race of monsters. With their technology and magic, they can easily manipulate the magic of our people and cause us to go extinct or be banished from their world. Monsters only exist in this small part of the world, and our population is a mere fraction of theirs. Humans are much more capable of conquering us than we are of them, and they are violent creatures that will destroy for fun. I urge you to gather up a militia of the strongest monsters to prepare for tension and conflict between our race and theirs. We can’t risk being crushed six feet down by our violent enemy we call humans.

Sincerely, W.D. Gaster  
-  
“What do you think? It's still a work in progress,” Gaster asked. Sans stared at the paper for a moment. “i think…” he paused. “i think you’re right. the humans would kill anything they want and… a-and…” Sans thought of the human slicing through the vertebrae of Papyrus’ neck, the dust melting off of Undyne’s sticky flesh as the human struck her over and over, and the blood seeping out of their arteries as Sans ripped the human apart with the sharp edges of his bones. “Are you okay?” Gaster asked. His chair creaked in displeasure as he rushed to Sans’ side, resting his cold hands on his cheeks. “Look at me,” he said, “It’s okay, I will protect you. Nothing will happen to you, I promise.” The tears crawling down his face ran faster as Sans thought of all the bad things that happened to him, then felt the weight of them disappear as Gaster wiped them off his face. Sans looked up at him. Gaster was smiling slightly, trying to comfort him. Sans smiled back, resting his head in Gaster’s large hand still resting against his jawline.

“You know I love you, right Sans?”

“huh? i mean, i guess,” Sans said. Gaster clanked his jaw against his forehead and stood up. “What would you like for dinner?” he asked. Craving a taste of his old, or possibly future life, he replied, “Spaghetti.” Gaster smiled. “I think Papyrus would like that very much. I’ll get started. You can tell him the news.”

Sniffling, Papyrus wiped his eyes. Why were the humans at school so mean to him? What did he ever do to upset them? He wondered about these things, contemplating whose fault it was, almost always landing on himself. Maybe the humans were jealous, and Papyrus could have befriended them, making them feel better, or… or maybe they were told to be mean to him, or…

“pap? you in there?” Papyrus heard Sans ask. Papyrus swallowed and steadied his voice, but as he spoke, his voice cracked and collapsed into a high pitched whimper. The bedroom door behind Papyrus creaked open, and soon he felt the mattress under him sink from the weight of his brother sitting next to him. “you okay bud?” Sans asked. “Sans… why do the humans hate me so much?” Sans blinked, surprised. “whatdya mean?” Papyrus wiped his eyes. “Like, the humans, they… sometimes they hurt me,” Papyrus started, “A-and, they call me mean things like… like a freak, or they tell me I don’t belong.” Sans’ eyes were blank, the dark abyss highlighting the gaping holes in his skull. “they did what?”

\---

“Frisk, just reset already!” Frisk flinched. They’d died again, after so many failed attempts at killing Sans. “You’ve killed everyone except him, come ON. You’re being just like Asriel! Just do what you’re supposed to and finish what you started,” Chara’s voice pounded in their mind. “I-” Frisk started. “I don’t want to! It’s not right.” Chara paused. “You did this to them. You decided to kill them. I was only helping. The only person to blame here is you because you’re just a coward that never finishes what they started,” Chara shouted at Frisk, then started laughing hysterically. “Reset, or I’ll make you.” The gold of the reset button blinded the both of them, appearing out of the void between life and death. But Frisk wasn’t just going to sit by and let Chara bully them. Frisk loved the monsters of the underground, and killing them was one of their worst nightmares.

“Reset, Frisk…”

Frisk thought, maybe they could reset to the beginning. Maybe to before the war between humans and monsters, before all this happened, before Chara fell, when everything was better. Where everything was okay. So they willed themself, sought out with their entire being, just to go back to when humans and monsters roamed peacefully. Then, they pressed their hand against the surface of the button glowing with opportunity. White engulfed Frisk’s eyes, and they woke up on a wooden floor covered in a dusty, beaten blanket. Frisk reached out for Chara’s presence in their mind, and found that they were still there. “I’m not gonna leave you, dummy,” Chara responded, annoyed. Frisk stood and looked down at their hands. They were as pale as paper. “Huh, looks like we’re me. Too bad I’m not in control,” Chara said with a hint of annoyance and sorrow. The sound of arguing resonated from downstairs. “Don’t-” Chara started as Frisk opened the bedroom door. Two adults stopped and stared at them, disgust and resentment shown plainly in their faces. "These were my parents."

“You,” the female of the adults started. “You’re the reason everyone’s unhappy! Why everything's gone wrong!” Frisk backed away. What did Chara do to their parents to make them this angry? The woman whispered to the man and the man nodded, disappearing into what looked to be the kitchen. The woman started up the stairs with her hands on her hips. “Brace yourself,” Chara said. Frisk felt a burning sting on their face as the woman brought her hand to their cheek. The man returned to the woman, a knife in his hand. “Run!” Chara screamed. Frisk glanced around the womans legs, looking for an escape before running around the woman, between the mans legs, and down the stairs. They rushed to the kitchen, grabbing a large kitchen knife. Frisk opened their mouth to say something, but no words escaped. Only a small, faint sob filled the silence. Frisk didn’t realize until now, but their arms and legs were covered in large bruises and scars. “What happened, Chara?” Frisk whispered in their mind.

“You… don’t want to know.”

The pair of humans were screaming at Frisk now. Their voices echoed in their mind, filling their thoughts with well-selected insults and phrases that ate Frisk up like wolves eating a single sheep, but no matter what happened, Chara always shielded them with reassurance and guidance despite the previous anger and hate thrown at Frisk by them. After a string of insults hurled at Frisk, the two humans turned on each other. “You can’t escape them, no matter how far you run or where you hide. They will always find you,” Chara said with a grim expression painted on their face. “They’ve abused me; cut me with knives, thrown shoes and empty bottles of beer at me, called me so many things,” Chara looked at Frisk, “but I won’t let them hurt you too. You’ve done a lot of messed up things in the past, Frisk, but you had your run in the beginning, so kudos to you for that.” Chara looked guilty. “I still care about you. You’re the only one besides mom, dad, and Asriel that cared about me, so… so don’t listen to what they say. They have a certain type of magic that lets them find the weakest points in people and exploit them.”

Frisk thought about what Chara said for a moment. If this was true, and Chara was at some point in the same situation, would all the monsters also be living on the surface? If Frisk saw Sans again, would he forgive them? But… Frisk wasn’t the one to actually DO those things. They only remember being possessed by Chara, or someone, and being forced to kill all the monsters. Didn’t Chara say that they were only helping? So if it wasn’t either one of them, then who was it? “Frisk, come on. We don’t have all day, we need to get out of here. If we don’t leave now, these two will beat you to a pulp,” Chara impatiently pestered. Frisk opened the antique door of the house, but paused to watch the adults one last time. They were just like their parents, only more… picky with their insults. Frisk’s parents would sell them off to people to work, only to take them back to their house to beat and shove. One day, Frisk was tired of it, so they just went to the mountain rumored to have venturers never return. The two kept arguing, screaming at each other like two dogs fighting over a tiny piece of meat, and with that, Frisk left the house that Chara probably spent a long time suffering in.

Immediately, a cold wind blew into Frisk’s face, sending a chill down their spine. The street connected to the house was littered with people standing about, talking to shopkeepers and friends while they browsed items. The dark street was lit by oil fueled candles hanging from metal street lights installed on the far ends of sidewalks and alleys. Frisk turned to face Chara and asked where to go. They pointed to an alley with a small box and umbrella in the corner. When Frisk got close to the box, they noticed there was a blanket and pillow inside. The blanket was covered in dirt and mud, but wasn’t nearly as bad as the blanket inside the house. The stone floor that laid before Frisk was damp and wet, but Frisk gently laid the pillow and blanket on the floor and fell asleep.

\---

The next day at school, Sans followed Papyrus to the humans that were bullying his little brother. Sans wouldn’t let them go without a lesson first. Humans have hurt his brother too many times, and finally, Sans was going to do something about it. He had a feeling he didn’t do much for Papyrus as a child, but after seeing what happened in the underground, he couldn’t afford not to care anymore. He approached the group of humans with a blank smile and empty eyes. The group hushed and turned to him. They were just a little shorter than him, which made him all the more intimidating. “which one of you is in charge here?” Sans asked, looking around. A kid slowly raised his hand. Sans took his hand out of his pocket and wrapped his magic around the kid’s SOUL. The SOUL’s trait was justice. How ironic. Sans took a step towards the kid and brought him high enough so Sans could look up to his face. “listen,” He snarled, “if you ever hurt or bully papyrus one more time,” Sans’ eye flashed a teal blue. “you will regret it.” He dropped the kid and walked away, returning the lights in his sockets and the smile on his face as he walked back to Papyrus. “What did you do?” papyrus asked him. “oh, nothing too important. let’s just say, they’ll be a little nicer to you next time you see them,” Sans responded. Papyrus squealed in excitement, and Sans felt pride sprout in his SOUL.

“Hey!” Sans heard someone yell behind him. Sans turned to face the human he had threatened, who now had tears welling in his eyes and snot dripping from his nose. Sans couldn’t help but snicker. If that kid cried because of something like that, how would he react if he had a bone straight through his body? Sans imagined it, seeing the ink-black blood trailing down a bone, the human’s eyes plastered with pain and surprise. Then he started laughing. He laughed and laughed, because it was so funny, and he couldn’t stop laughing. He laughed and cried, feeling for his face, not believing it was real. Nothing was real anymore. Who was he? Where was he? Why did this child have the audacity to insult someone HE loves? This kid would pay. He would pay dearly for this mistake. “Sans? Are you okay?” Papyrus asked Sans in a shrill, scared voice. Sans was still laughing. He laughed at his pain, he laughed at the humans and Gaster, he laughed at the war, the mountain, the underground. He laughed and laughed, stopping only to take a breath to laugh even more. And as he laughed, the magic in his SOUL built and built, almost overflowing. He brought up his hand and reached for his magic, grasping a bone from its depths and bringing it through the human. Then he laughed more as the human choked on his own blood that seeped up his esophagus and tried escaping his mouth while he struggled to breathe. Blood slowly pooled beneath the humans blood soaked body, the clothes draped over him licked up the blood that spread throughout the fabric.

Sans slowly stopped laughing, then started crying. He cried for his lost friends, his own sanity, and for his failures. He looked behind him. Papyrus was backing away, tears streaming down his face, hand covering his mouth. He looked down at his hands, covered in thin red blood. Then, he looked at the human. The eyes of the human were glazed with pain, blood dripping from his mouth. The bone dissipated, leaving no trace it was even there except for the gaping hole in the middle of the human. As the bone holding everything in place disappeared, the shiny pink insides of the human spilled out of him, splattering blood on the tiled floor of the school. Sans’ ears rang, muffling the children’s screams as they witnessed what he’d done. Soon, staff and faculty surrounded him, holding him back from running away from the murder he’d commited. It was ironic, truly. Sans was the judge, but instead of judging, he now would be judged for what he did. The people holding him tried pulling him away, but Sans closed his eyes and imagined in his mind the home he’d woken up in, pulling on the stream of magic deep within his SOUL. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in front of the door to the house where Gaster sat at the table reading over a stack of papers. Sans let his backpack fall, alerting Gaster. He looked up, saw Sans, and rushed towards him.

“What happened, child?” Gaster asked, examining the blood spilled all over him. “i killed someone,” Sans said blankly, staring at Gaster with empty sockets. Gaster was shocked for a moment. “How… how did you get here so quickly?” Sans blinked. “i teleported.” Gaster held his head in his hand for a moment, whispering to himself. “Where did you learn to teleport?” Gaster asked Sans. Sans was surprised at his lack of questioning, given that he literally murdered someone. “i’ve always been able to teleport,” Sans responded, a bit confused. He remembered always knowing how, but Gaster made it seem like he wasn’t born with the ability. “Teleporting throughout space and quite possibly time requires an immense amount of magic and practice. The fact that you can do it without anyone teaching you how, well, it’s quite intriguing to say the least.” Sans looked down, mumbling. “why aren’t you asking me why i killed someone?” Gaster smiled slightly. “Because I know that if you did, you would have a good reason to.” Sans looked at him, his face in a slight snarl. “but i didn’t have a good reason. i killed that human only because they were being mean to papyrus, and even then i didn’t mean to kill them, it just… happened.” Gaster frowned, thinking. “Well, obviously you probably won’t be able to go to that school again, and with that history, I don’t think any school will want you despite your knowledge.” Sans felt a bead of sweat sprout from his skull “what about papyrus?” he asked. “Papyrus… can change schools. As for you, Sans, you can be homeschooled.”

Right as Gaster said that, the phone rang. It was from the school. Gaster declined the call, winked at Sans, and went upstairs to return with a pile of books. “This is what you will be studying. I will quiz you momentarily on the book's contents. These books are about quantum physics, magic, monsters, humans, and more. There are also checks that you will complete that test what you already read in the book,” Gaster said as he handed the stack of books to Sans. “You can start on whichever one you’d like.” Sans picked up the top book and rested his fingers on the cover. It had two variations of SOULs: human SOULs, and monster SOULs. He flipped open the book to the first page, where it described the difference between human and monster SOULs with detailed diagrams. Sans already knew a little too much about this, so he flipped a few more pages until something caught his eye. SOUL traits. Specifically the one that was labeled DETERMINATION with a red SOUL as the picture. The book read:

Humans with the SOUL trait DETERMINATION can sometimes have the ability to manipulate time and space depending on their determination level. However, this can be countered by a monster absorbing the SOUL before the human has a chance to. I interviewed humans with this ability and they told me that manipulating time is called a “load” or “reset,” and manipulating space is also related, given that whenever you load, you go back to a “save point.” Save points are described to be golden stars that whenever you touch it, your “save file” pops up and you can save. Whenever you load, you can go back to when you last saved. Resetting, however, is a different story. When a human with this specific trait chooses to reset, they go back to when they didn’t save their file at all, somewhat like a fresh start. Each human I interviewed had the ability to do this, but not for too long. When a human with stronger determination is born or gains more determination, the power is passed on to them. Determination is a tangible thing that can be injected into humans, which has happened for some to gain a higher determination level. The level of determination is also referred to as DT. Some humans I’ve interviewed admitted to taking advantage of their power, for example they would do illegal or terrible things only to load or reset to go back. The excuse for this was they “wanted to experience something new.” I asked some of them what resetting looks like, and only one of them described resetting to me. The human’s name was Chara. They came from an abusive family, and I had to pay to see Chara to interview them. Chara described that in order to load or reset, you had to kill yourself first. When you died, you would be presented with the option to load or reset. To reset, you would simply press the button that said RESET, and you would go back to a certain point in which you last remember. Chara said that they were never able to go back to when they were born because they don’t remember being born; they could only go back to when they remember first being beaten by their parents. I asked Chara how many times they saved, and Chara said “more times than I can count.” It seems clear to me that humans with this power can use their determination for the better or worse, but monsters will never be able to experience this given that their bodies aren’t strong enough to maintain a definitive trait.

“dad, do you know any human named chara?” Gaster looked up at him. “Why do you ask?” Sans pointed at the book. “because it talks about a human named chara in this book.” Gaster gently took the book from his hands and turned it around so he could read it. “Well, not necessarily. Given that I’m a personal scientist for Asgore, I haven’t experimented on any humans. I have heard of Chara, however. They’re one of the few humans with parents that have the truth trait.”  
“what does that mean?” Sans asked. “It means that they can find the truth about anyone and anything; the story, weaknesses, strengths, etc. It’s quite confusing, given that Chara has the determination trait but is abused quite often.” Sans thought for a moment. “can SOUL traits change?”  
“Not by sheer will or experience, but if human SOULs are injected with traits that differ greatly from theirs, their SOUL will become completely neutral, and their personality will take on both traits at the same time. For example, if the trait hate was countered with kindness, then the human would display total neutrality to everything they experience, only showing certain traits in touchy situations. Traits can only be gathered from taking amounts from human SOULs,” Gaster responded. “what if… a human was being possessed by another human that had a different SOUL type?” Gaster stared into space, thinking. “The human with the most control, which would be the human that was being possessed, would control the body. If a human was being possessed by another human that had the determination trait, wait. That wouldn’t be possible unless another human had more determination…” Gaster went off to rambling, but Sans kept reading the paper, trying to suck up as much information as possible, like a dry sponge being exposed to running water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, this one took a while. Procrastinated a lot. Love the chicken nugs tho. Next update March 9!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! I'm really sorry that I couldn't upload a chapter this time around, but it's because I've been experiencing a lot of extreme anxiety and depression. The last two weeks have been filled with really bad mental breakdowns and nights where I didn't matter. I've increased my dose of medication, and am feeling a lot better now. For my very special people who don't know what anxiety or depression is, google it. I have social anxiety disorder, and because of that have been developing depression. I hope you guys understand that I just needed these past two weeks as a way to calm myself, and will start writing new chapters from now on until something else happens.

Next update March 22, 2020! (Sunday)


	4. Chapter 4

Gaster rubbed his throbbing forehead after accidentally dozing off. Sans was still eagerly reading, his smile growing brighter as he read about nature on the surface. Gaster kept getting these dreams about being trapped in a large cavern with lots of other monsters. Strangely, he never saw any skeletons in his dreams other than Sans and Papyrus. He cleared his thoughts, trying to focus on the stack of reports he was to review. He looked up at the clock hanging atop the door, realizing it was 9:00pm. “Sans, it’s time for bed,” he said, his own eye sockets growing heavy. Sans slowly closed his book, putting a small piece of paper against the spine of the book as a bookmark. “Papyrus is already asleep, so be quiet when you change into your pajamas.” 

Gaster sighed as he took off his lab coat and drank some water. The pounding in his head lessened as the cool liquid leaked into the magic composition of his body and SOUL. Sans’ soft slippers climbing up the stairs got quieter and quieter as he entered his room. Gaster wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep yet, as much as he wanted to. He took out a particular report from his large stack of papers. The report was found by a monster as they were searching for food in a dumpster. The monster gave it to the king who handed it down to him. It was a “national emergency” issued by the humans. The report stated several actions that humans were to take, all of which were against the safety and benefit of monsters. For example, shops were to increase prices or even deny products to monsters, schools were to drop out monster students, hospitals were to deny monster patients, etc. the explanation for all these actions was to prepare and weaken the monster race for the upcoming “revolution,” which in Gaster’s opinion was more like a war.

He also noticed that Papyrus was getting more emotional than usual, so maybe staying home would help him recover from whatever was happening at school. The report also talked about monsters becoming suddenly violent, such as how Sans acted. Gaster didn’t know why Sans did what he did, but knew that something was wrong with Sans that made him act that way. He planned to talk to him about it after all the tension between the monsters and humans was gone.

Gaster sighed, massaging his sockets. He put the report down and looked up at the ceiling, his eyes drifting close in thought. When Papyrus came home, he felt numb. Gaster could feel it. His magic let him sense the feelings of those he was near, and the feelings those would feel in the near future. Usually when Papyrus comes home he’s either excited, scared, or sad, but it always got better. This time, he just felt numb. There was nothing else there. Just shocked and empty. Maybe it had something to do with Sans? He didn’t know. He could ask Papyrus about it, but knowing him, he would probably make the story last a lot longer than it had to be given that he was always determined to defend the actions of those who wronged him.

He opened his eyes. Sans was looking down at him from the railings. “What’s wrong?” Gaster asked. Sans’ expression shifted into a fake smile filled with pain. “paps doesn’t want me near him, i-” Sans wiped his face, “i killed the human in front of him because they were being mean, and… he didn’t know how to react, i guess.” Gaster sighed, not quite disappointed but still not happy to deal with the situation. “I’ll talk to him. Get something to eat or drink while I’m at it. Try to calm yourself down. It’ll be okay.” Sans saighed, then agreed. Gaster knew he would probably listen to their conversation anyway, no matter what.

Gaster went up the stairs as Sans did the opposite to get some water. He lightly knocked on the door to the bedroom of the two brothers, and entered. Papyrus was faced away from the door, in a shaking bundle of blankets. Gaster sat on the bed next to him, rubbing Papyrus’ back. “Papyrus, I know what happened. You shouldn’t have seen that, and… well, Sans was… he couldn’t control himself at the moment. I know how you feel. Seeing a human die even if they’re mean to you isn’t the best feeling, but you have to understand that Sans didn’t mean it, and he’s sorry for doing that to the human and to you. Sans and I both care about you. We would do anything for you. Even if it meant killing a human, which Sans may have seen as the best or only option for the situation.” As Gaster finished, Papyrus stopped shaking and his moments changed into deep sobs of tears. “B-but… why would he do such a thing? W-why w-would he hurt s-someone like that?” Papyrus lifted the blankets off his face so Gaster could see his face. Gaster smiled slightly. “Because we don’t see the good in people like you do, Paps. You have the gift of thinking everyone can change, and that there’s always good in people. Sans and I…” Gaster looked through the crack in the door, catching a glimpse of Sans. “we can’t see that in people like you can.” Papyrus sniffed, wiped his eyes, and crawled on the bed to hug Gaster. “Are you ready to talk to Sans now?” he asked. Papyrus nodded. “Yes.”

\---  
ENTRY NUMBER 0054

Sans has killed a human. I didn’t expect this, nor do I know how he did it, but it makes things more difficult if I am to homeschool him. Papyrus didn’t react well, but as always he bounced back rather quickly. I’ll teach Sans some magic soon so he can defend himself when the war starts. For now, I need to research what made him do this because he said he couldn’t control it. It may be linked to the nightmares Sans has been having. Other monsters who had these outbursts reported flashbacks to somewhere they didn’t remember, like deja vu but a glimpse into the future. Whatever it is, if the future causes monsters to react violently, I need to be prepared for what happens next.  
\---

Sans slid into the bedroom, guilt and regret clawing at him. He sat on Papyrus’ bed and started slowly. “hey buddy, i… i didn’t mean to do that to the human. i don’t know what came over me. i know that you see everyone as someone who can do better, but… the things i’ve seen don’t let me think that. paps, you’re really important to me, and seeing those humans being mean to you just got to me. i hope you can forgive me, but if you can’t… i understand.” Sans really wanted Papyrus to forgive him. Papyrus was his literal will to live; his reason to keep on going. If Papyrus couldn’t forgive him, he didn’t know what he would do next.

“Brother, I don’t know why you killed the human. I think you were just… not you in that moment. But, I think even if you did that to someone, I think you can do better, so… I forgive you.” Sans looked at his brother. He never thought he would see the day where Papyrus was giving him a pep talk. Sure, sometimes he did when he really wanted Sans to put his sock away, but usually those pep talks were for the human when they were “going down a dangerous path.” “papyrus… thank you. i love you bro.”

\---

Frisk lifted their sore body from the concrete. Sleeping outside may not have been the best idea, but it was better than in that house. Chara’s parents really hated them. Frisk walked onto the path with people walking, talking, and shopping. As Frisk followed the crowd, they heard murmurs and whispers of some sort of meeting in a bar. They followed the people until they found a person holding a large sign advertising for adult humans to go in the bar for an important meeting. Frisk managed to sneak through a group of people and hid in a dark closet. After a few minutes in the stuffy closet, a human rang a bell and yelled for silence.

“As you all know, monsters have been taking advantage of us for years. They have been going against our race for too long. Us humans can withstand after death, but that means that monsters can take our SOULs and become more powerful than we can imagine. This threat can’t haunt us anymore. We need to declare war on the monsters when they least expect it so that no one will hurt anymore, no one will be afraid that their SOULs will be stolen, and no one will fear for what will happen when they wake up in the morning. Who’s with me?” Humans cheered loudly, chanting “no more monsters.” Frisk started hyperventilating, realizing what they were about to witness. “We need to clear out this area; recruit as many humans as you can! Women, children, and men alike! We need to conquer those disgusting monsters and trap them forever!” Humans started emptying every cabinet and drawer they could, opening every single door they could find. The sound of doors flying open got closer and closer until a large man holding a burning torch opened the closet door, grabbing their hand. “C’mon. You’re coming with us now. Get ready to fight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this one was so short! I'm still recovering from my depression and anxiety, and my computer's battery decided to break. I got a new computer but had to have it delivered, and because of the coronavirus it took a little bit longer than expected. I hope you guys all understand. Next chapter WILL be longer, I swear on my life. Please, wash your hands regularly, cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough, and stay inside unless you need to go grocery shopping. The next update will be on April 8, 2020, or 2 weeks from now. Stay safe!


	5. Chapter 5

Frisk sat in an old wooden chair, hands tied behind their back. A human with a long burly beard sat in front of them, eyes closed in focus. It was the human that kidnapped them. The man grunted and shifted his legs. He opened his eyes and stared at Frisk. “Where are you from?” he asked, his voice rough and raspy. “I… don’t remember.” Frisk said. It had been so long since they were on the surface, and even then their family didn’t take care of Frisk very well. The man grunted. “What do you remember about your childhood?” Frisk looked at Chara, seeking advice. Chara was distracted, examining the man. “I don’t remember much.” they said. The man hummed. “How old are you?”

“I… I don’t know.”

The man raised one eyebrow, then rose and went behind the chair to untie their hands. “You’re going to be training with the humans for the war. Get some food and go to bed upstairs. We’ll start tomorrow.” Frisk stood up and noticed how sore their legs were. They must have been sitting there for a long time. The man opened the door and gestured for them to follow, and Frisk did as he wished. They went to the kitchen where the smell of beef stew hung thick in the air. A woman handed them a bowl, telling them to eat up. There was no spoon, so they just sipped straight from the bowl. The stew tasted very rich and filling. Afterwards, Frisk went upstairs and found rows of sleeping bags, some with humans in them. They took a random one and fell asleep rather quickly.

In the morning, the man yelled and whistled for them and the other humans to wake up. There was no breakfast. Frisk followed the crowd outside where there were targets, swords, guns, and random objects. The man yelled for the crowd of people to be quiet. “Okay. Raise your hand if you can use magic.” The man looked around, and slowly people raised their hands. Frisk was not one of them. They only had the magic of resetting, and they didn’t think that would be very useful for the humans, not that they even wanted to help them. “Okay, you guys go over there. For the rest of you, you’re gonna have to learn how to use weapons like these,” he grabbed a sword, swinging it around. He then proceeded to slice a training dummy to small strips of hay that once filled its insides. “Everyone grab a sword.”

The training was mainly melee for the children and young adults, but the elders and adults practiced aiming with guns. The humans who could do magic practiced their abilities on dummies. Some of the women were held to practice basic medicine, as well as humans that could do healing magic. There were very few that could. The training for the children was not at all laid back; in fact it was the opposite. In Frisk’s opinion, the humans were making the children work harder than the adults for some reason. It was probably because those messed up people thought they had to “toughen up” the kids so they could do better in the battle, but it was quite clear that the younger humans would be used most likely as bait. Frisk didn’t have too much of a problem with this, just knew they had to think of a way of escaping. Then Sans was a factor, and Frisk knew that if he remembered all Frisk did, well… he wouldn’t be happy at all. At least Chara was being more supportive.

Frisk never understood Chara’s childhood until now, and they thought that maybe the experience of reliving that made Chara more able to open up and explain things because, well, they didn’t really have a choice. Afterall, their SOUL was gone. Frisk wondered how the reset really did work, and came with the conclusion that they obviously were back in the time period where humans and monsters had rising tension, which was about the same time when Chara was alive. Frisk also concluded that Frisk was reliving Chara’s life, but had no idea what would happen to theirs. What if another human replaced Chara? What if Frisk was that replacement? If so, then who would replace Frisk? The questions pounded at their head as they focused on tearing apart dummies filled with hay. They felt bad about beating up something that once seemed so alive. Frisk knew death was hard to grasp for most people, both humans and monsters. Although, when Frisk was overrun by what felt like Chara during the beginning of the genocide run, they felt something different. It was pure hatred for monsters and humans. For everyone. The thought that such emotions could exist in such large bursts of passion scared them. They didn’t want to hurt anyone.

Until they were forced to.

But even then, Frisk didn’t want to fight. They wanted the monsters to be happy and see the stars or feel the sun on their skin. Frisk knew that even if they got their happy ending, they couldn’t control too much when it came to how or when it would be reset. Sometimes it would be right after, other times years later. Frisk would have to talk to Sans about it. They didn’t think Sans would open up to them though, given that Sans probably felt beyond betrayed. They could feel the pain in his voice and the shaking of his hands when he hugged Frisk in the embrace that eventually killed them. They knew that he cared about them, but would have a hard time forgiving them. After all, Frisk did kill his entire family, even if they didn’t want to.

It was getting dark, and Frisk’s stomach screamed for food. The loud shootings of guns rang in their ears for so long, Frisk could barely hear their own thoughts. Chara usually guided them through the voices and sounds, leading them and transcribing what they said into Frisk’s thoughts. They did share a SOUL and body, after all. They ate dinner which was the exact same thing as dinner the day before and went to bed. The next thing happened the next day. And the next day. And the next. It was an endless loop of training, each day getting more and more painful. Every time Frisk had a spoonful of that now tasteless stew, they didn’t feel the warmth the soup once provided. They just felt empty. The training was getting easier because their muscles were building, though. Frisk knew the other humans also felt the same. At least they were well fed and the beds were comfier than the bed at Chara’s house.

Frisk was only worried about one thing: Sans.

\---

After Sans made up with Papyrus, he seemed much more open to him. Sometimes he asked about what he felt when he killed the human or why, and Sans always told him the same thing, “i don’t know.” Papyrus was never content with his answer, but Sans knew that if Papyrus really understood, he would be scared of him. Just before Sans was getting ready to go to bed, he teleported outside. He never really explored the surface on any of Frisk’s resets, but now he had time. Just outside Gaster’s house, there was a large main road for what Sans concluded to be horses or people. He walked along the road and heard loud yelling in what looked like a pub. Knowing that he probably wasn’t meant to hear what they were saying, Sans hid behind mountains of trash and leaned his nonexistent ears against one of the thin walls. He heard a fragment of some sort of speech. “...haunt us anymore. We need to declare war on the monsters when they least expect it so that no one will hurt anymore, no one will be afraid that their SOULs will be stolen, and no one will fear for what will happen when they wake up in the morning. Who’s with me?” people shouted, chanted, and Sans immediately felt cold. Maybe his time here was limited.

Sans teleported to a remote place in a forest to try and calm himself down. He was hyperventilating, and he felt his eye glowing. He felt for his face, so caught up in his intense hatred that his senses were on hold. When he found his head, he buried it in his hands and crawled into a ball. He sobbed, the reality that he would never be happy finally setting in. Thoughts poured into his mind like a broken faucet he couldn’t fix. “why didn’t you do anything? why did you just let them die? you’re such a disappointment. you can’t do anything right. you’ll never get your way. you’re always going to be like this. you’re so lazy. you’re such an embarrassment. no one really loves you. just give up.”

“Uh… excuse me? Are you alright? What are you- oh dear…” Sans looked up, his feelings being softened as he remembered an old friend. “grillby…?” Sans whispered. The fire monster smiled slightly, looking unable to recognize him. Sans returned the smile, remembering all the times Grillbz and Sans had together. “My name is Grillby. What’s yours?” Sans smiled brightly, mustering the happiest expression he could. “i’m sans. nice to meet you.” Sans noticed the large garbage bag that Grillby held, and realized he teleported right behind Grillby’s restaurant. Grillby explained that he worked for the restaurant, and that it wasn’t his or his families, but owned by a monster named Hazel. Sans and Grillby talked and talked, laying against the grass while staring at the stars. After a while, Grillby had to go, and Sans said his goodbyes but didn’t leave. He was entranced by the stars slowly moving across the void of a dark sky. After what seemed like hours, he remembered Papyrus and Gaster probably looking for him at home. He stood up and started walking home. He wanted to enjoy the scenery for as long as he possibly could without seeming suspicious. After a while, light rain slowly patterned themselves on the stone brick path. Everyone was asleep and shops were closed. The steady rain and light footsteps of his brought calm in his mind. He walked and walked until he found his house. He entered, seeing the lights off and heard snoring from Gaster’s room. He walked to his bedroom and fell asleep, not caring enough to change into his pajamas.

When he woke up, he was back in Snowdin. Papyrus yelled from the kitchen, announcing his breakfast spaghetti was ready. His eyes felt sagged and heavy, his body sore and exhausted, but he still got out of bed and managed through his jungle of socks. When he opened the door, a burst of warm light painted the negative space of his room, leaving a silhouette where he stood. He slowly shambled downstairs. Every single step was torture, like someone scraped the marrow off of every single surface of his bones. He really needed to walk more. Maybe then the pain wouldn’t be as extreme or noticable. Papyrus clanked two plates of spaghetti on the table with Sans’ pet rock in the middle. Sans pulled a stool from under the table and ate his portion of spaghetti. Papyrus looked at him. “You look more tired than usual, brother. Did you sleep okay?” Sans blinked. “sorry bro, spaced out. what’d you say?” Papyrus opened his mouth as if to argue, but closed it right after. “How did you sleep?” Sans shrugged. Realizing Papyrus wasn’t going to get anything out of him, he put his serving of spaghetti in a container and said he was going to train with Undyne then go on his patrol. Sans didn’t respond.

So was this it? Did the reset… go as planned? If so, Sans hoped that Frisk would choose to spare at least his brother this time around. He only experienced a few pacifist runs, but when he did, the end result was beautiful. At least until Frisk reset again. Either way, this was probably how it was going to be for the next few days. He was stuck. No escape. Frisk was going to keep doing this forever, and Sans couldn’t do anything about it. He truly was worthless. He didn’t even care to clean himself up every once in a while. Just completely gave up on trying. At this point, he didn’t care too much what happened next because it was just going to happen again. He teleported to his post and grabbed a bottle of ketchup to numb the feelings when he sat behind the Ruins door, listening on whether or not Toriel would live. He walked to the door, drinking the plastic red condiment bottle. When he got to the door, he slumped against it and pounded against the door. There was a window of time before the human fell. He waited for Toriel to respond, but she never did. “lady? you there?” Child giggling responded. He went cold. So Frisk went the genocide route this time. Again. He sighed and walked away from the door.

Later, he hid in the trees when he saw Frisk walking. They were holding the toy knife in their hand, a crooked smile strewn on their face. He teleported behind them when they reached what Papyrus considered a fence, and encouraged the human to shake their hand. When they did, Sans noticed their eyes were… just empty. There was nothing there. Just a shadow. No identity. He started his regular dialogue and the same thing happened, just as always. Papyrus came, asked him if he found a human, blah blah blah. Papyrus made him happy, yeah, but sometimes his loud personality gave Sans a bit of a headache. Sans watched the human when they continued on as they murdered all the monsters they could find. He knew that even if he wanted to, he couldn’t stop them. He tried and failed, every single damn time. When the human reached the bridge that Papyrus painted, this time Sans gave a more stern warning, putting a bone against the human’s neck to just barely break the skin. He didn’t want to witness the human kill Papyrus again. Not after he saw how vulnerable he was as a toddler. The human, like always, showed no emotion other than that chilling smile.

\---

Sans lost track of time. Papyrus should have been fighting the human, but when he looked there was nothing there. Sans looked all over the place, but the thick fog of the snow melting in Waterfall’s warm waters almost blinded Sans. He decided not to rely on his eyes, but his feet and hands. He crawled all over the floor, not caring how stupid he looked. He just wanted to see his brother. He didn’t even realize it, but he started crying as he looked. He found nothing. Not a single trace of his brother. He gave up, abandoning the idea that his brother even fought the human, and hoped that he was at home, watching MTT or… or making his spaghetti, or training with Undyne or… just, anything but dead.

He started heading back home, but just as he left the fog, something in the snow tripped him. He felt around in the thick layer of snow and realized that it wasn’t snow. Snow wasn’t this fine or smooth. It was dust. His head pounded, the idea of death setting in. Every single time, that human could drive him crazy by giving him a taste of happiness then taking it away. He really hated that human. He uncovered parts of Papyrus’ battle body in his mound of dust. All the pieces were intact. He took the remains and went home.

When he opened the door to his room, everything fell out of his arms. He didn’t want to do anything. Just wait for death to come, no matter how long it took. He didn’t want to keep going. He just wanted Papyrus to come back. Even if Papyrus could be a little mean to him sometimes, and Paps sometimes made him feel like he wasn’t worth it, he always found a way to make sure Sans was okay. Whether that was reminding Sans of the good times when he didn’t have a reason to be lazy, or just letting Sans know that the both of them were okay for the time being. Sans was practically dysfunctional without him. The fact that the human chose to kill his friends over and over gave him mixed feelings, all of them negative. The stages of grief and mourning that he always went through changed this time around. He didn’t feel that sad, just angry. Angry because the human had the right to do this, angry that the human chose to do this. He just felt overwhelming anger. The blood in his bones boiled. He looked down on the floor where Papyrus’ dusty remains slumped. He couldn’t keep Paps’ stuff here. He just wouldn’t like it. He picked up his battle body and brought it to Papyrus’ room where he gently laid in on his bed, careful not to mess up anything. He wanted everything to be just as it was before he died. It seemed wrong to mess up his room if he wasn’t there to fix it again. He wanted Papyrus to be happy, even if he was dead. He only really messed up Papyrus’ room when he needed him after he had a nightmare. Usually the nightmares were actually runs. Or they weren’t. Sans didn’t know what was real anymore.

Realizing there wasn’t anything he could really do anymore, he teleported to the judgement hall. Before the genocide runs happened, when humans were still falling into the underground, he used to spend time in the hall to listen to the birds singing through the thin layer of rock keeping the monsters underground. The layer was so thin even the sunlight got through. The monsters tried digging out, but there was always a force field keeping them inside. Sans closed his eyes, waiting patiently for Frisk. After a few hours, light footsteps finally clanked against the polished marble. He opened his eyes and stared into Frisk’s. “so, you’ve been busy huh?” Knowing they’d done this more than once, he immediately entered the battle. “y’know, you’ve been doing this a while. ever tried sparing them?” Sans winked. “oh wait, you have. but it’s been so long.” Frisk smiled, lunging at him with their knife slashing at his chest. Sans’ heart thumped. Time slowed as he shifted from the knife’s reach. Frisk quickly turned around, lunging at him again. He had to start attacking at this point. He still had a lot of energy, so he could attack at full force and try to kill the human, but it didn’t seem like it would work. Frisk lunged again and again, and Sans blanked on what to do. What was happening to him?

As sweat dripped from his face, Frisk kept attacking. He managed to summon some bones, but when he did it felt like a chunk of him was being pulled away only to miss the human. He felt weaker and weaker as he felt like he was falling apart, even though he was still very much intact. At least for now. His movements slowed, all his energy going into his futile attacks. They weren’t even attacks anymore, just mediocre decorations. The cycle repeated, until he held Frisk’s soul in place, making sure they couldn’t attack him anymore. He wanted to slip some dialogue into the battle to break the silence, so to say. In other words, he needed a break. As he struggled to catch his break, Frisk’s smile widened. “you really like swinging that thing around, huh? listen buddy. i don’t know what happened to you, and i know both you and i have been through this countless times, so i just wanna y’know… spice it up a little bit.” Sans looked at Frisk. It sounded like they were laughing. “i don’t know what you are. i know how this is gonna end, and i don’t really want it to happen. i want you to understand how this feels-”

Looks like he was out of time. Or energy. Or both. His grasp on the human’s SOUL was suddenly overrun by something gruesome. He couldn’t place what exactly happened, but flashes of memories that weren’t his managed to enter his mind but leave before he could even analyze what happened. All he could tell was they were horrifying, and that the human was going to kill him. In the split second that he let his guard down, the human immediately sprinted at him, ready to slice his ribcage. He tried to dodge, but it was no use. He was too late. When the human finally got a hold on him and hit the final blow, it was all over. The pain was beyond words; beyond expression. All he could do was muster a few words, a few steps, and then it was all over. He stood up even when it seemed impossible, determined not to melt into the floor right in front of the human’s eyes. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he collapsed on the ground, feeling himself scatter into dust as he closed his eyes, bracing for the hard marble hitting his head that never came. 

When he woke up again, his bed sheets were soaked and he was gasping for air. He looked around, realizing he wasn’t even in Snowdin. He was back at the surface. Papyrus rolled around again, mumbling in his sleep. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to go to bed again, he silently slipped out of bed and wandered into a room he never entered, assuming it was Gaster’s room. When he opened the door, instead of finding Gaster, it looked more like a study room. There were books everywhere, and a desk with a somehow dead cactus in the corner. He walked over to the library of books and read the spines. The books had a variety of topics, from snails to magic. He picked a book about snails. It seemed like Toriel had this book, because she made a lot of jokes about them. He flipped open to a page and recognized some of the facts as inspiration for the lady’s jokes. Engaged in the nostalgia, he read a few more pages before it got a little weird, and by weird he meant it went from snail facts to snail recipes. He closed the book, returned it to its spot, and picked one about magic. This one was written in a strange font that looked like sign language’s braille. He could somewhat read it though. It seemed very familiar. He flipped pages that seemed boring or irrelevant, as many of the pages were just ranting about a previous topic. Then, he saw diagrams. Diagrams of attacks that he used when he would fight the human. There were diagrams of attacks he never saw before, and read about them.

One was about how a monster could memorize a certain human magic if they spent a long enough time studying it. The only exception of this was the trait DETERMINATION, as it was impossible for a monster to have even a fraction of a human’s determination. Sans immediately countered the author’s statement as he imagined Undyne when the human struck her down, and how she persevered, despite already receiving a fatal blow, even for her. He put the book away, not wanting to be reminded of the genocide runs weighing on him. He left the study room and tried finding Gaster’s. It didn’t take him long. Across from the study, he saw another door and opened it. The room was very empty, there was just a bed in the corner and a closet beside it. Nothing else. Sans walked over to Gaster’s bed and peered at the covers. There he was, sleeping like… a middle aged man. He snored slightly and had a stream of drool coming from his mouth. Slightly disgusted, Sans left the room to go back to his and Papyrus’. He went back into his bed, waiting for morning to come.

When light peeked through his window, Sans got out of bed. He could already feel bags growing under his adolescent eyes. Papyrus was still sleeping. It was funny how much of a child Papyrus was when he was young, not that Papyrus wasn’t like a child when he was older. He always had a childish demeanor to him, but when Papyrus was older he didn’t sleep as much as he did now. Sans went downstairs and explored the food in the pantry and fridge. There was a bottle of ketchup on the highest shelf in a cabinet, out of Sans’ reach. It was probably for the best, anyway. Either way, he wanted ketchup. He grabbed some bread and toasted it, imagining toast with ketchup generously spread all over it. When the bread finished toasting, he plucked it out of the toaster and used blue magic to get the ketchup out of the cabinet without hurting himself. Without hesitation, Sans opened the ketchup bottle and let practically half of the bottle splat onto the toast. He took a bite and closed his eyes. It was delicious. When he opened his eyes, Gaster was leaning against the railing of the stairs, looking disappointed. “How many times have I told you not to have ketchup early in the morning? It’s going to make you sick.” Sans shrugged, not really caring, just wanting to eat. Gaster sighed, not even trying to stop him. As Sans was eating and Gaster watched, distant gunshots and screams echoed from outside. Gaster heard it before Sans did, and quickly ran towards him. Sans was completely oblivious, so he thought Gaster was really pissed at Sans because of the ketchup, but when Gaster got close to him he whispered very quickly to go into his study room and hide under his desk, but get Papyrus first. Sans hesitated, not knowing what was going on, until he heard the screaming.

He ran upstairs to his room and yanked Papyrus out of his bed. Papyrus somehow slept through it, barely, but when Sans reached Gaster’s study room and hid under his desk, Papyrus finally woke up. “Brother? What’s happening?” Sans hushed him, not wanting to attract any humans. He knew the war was starting, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. All he wanted was for Papyrus to be okay, and to not remember anything about the war. “just go back to sleep, bro. it’s all gonna be okay.” Papyrus yawned, and slowly drifted off to sleep in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this one was probably the longest chapter I've done so far. I hope you guys enjoyed it, because I tried pretty hard. Also, get fooled. On a more serious note, I was told by my psychiatrist a few days ago that I have major depressive disorder to tag along with my social anxiety. I am getting accommodations at my school so that I can focus better, and I am getting what I need. I've been having some nightmares about being a useless little piece of garbage, but that's okay. Anyways, the next update for chapter 6 will be on Wednesday, April 22, 2020, or 2 weeks from now. Wash your hands regularly, take care of yourself, and stay inside. Stay safe!


	6. quarantine special

are you reading this because you have nothing better to do?

are you stuck at home quarantining yourself because of our friendly new virus?

are you bored out of your mind because you dont wanna talk to your family? heres some stuff to do:

\- rip out your sweaty and somewhat overweight neighbor's fence so your dog can poop in his yard because you're too scared and antisocial to actually go outside in your front yard where you risk being seen by literally anyone to let your dog roam around where other dogs have been

\- go on roblox and bully little kids like an immature adult who doesnt have a job and cant move out of his moms basement

\- play monopoly by yourself and develop multiple personalities to get mad at each other even though the only person playing is you

\- bake something

\- try to garden something but end up accidentally making it wither and die because you forgot about it while you were bullying little kids on roblox

are you mad at me because i couldn't make a legitimate chapter between the very large span of time that is two weeks? ME TOO!

on a more serious note, i havent been able to write because of a little unwelcome exchange student in my brain called writers block. i also didnt do my homework that i was assigned because im a lazy slob that spent most of the time i should have used to write to literally make small children on roblox angry by blasting bass boosted papyrus and kahoot music as well as the "its ok to be gay" song and yelling at them that they like girls because most of the kids on bloxburg are female

and thats where i troll

thanks for coming to my tedtalk ill actually try writing for the next chapter

writing is hard

also for a little sneak peek gaster uh does his thing to humans i guess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next update in 2 weeks or march 6
> 
> also happy 4/20


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay. I know I REALLY haven't been working on this, but I have a good reason. Due to my depression, anxiety, and compulsive behaviors I've been going to an outpatient place to deal with my mental issues. I'm proud to report that I have been improving my mental health and learning more healthy coping skills. I just want to say: If you or anyone you know is dealing with mental issues that are not being addressed, talk to a therapist if you can afford it. If you can't, download or look up a free counseling app/website so you can get help. Everyone has their own problems, don't let yours go unnoticed. You are valid. Anyway, on to the chapter. It's short, but I wanted to give an update. Thank you for all your support and for staying with me, even when it seems like I'm not there.

Gaster ran around the house, scrambling to get the things he or his little boys might need. He found some healing items and saved some of them for Sans and papyrus. If he didn’t make it, he needed to know that they might last at least long enough to escape the war and find safety. He also grabbed medicine and food, then brought it to Sans and Papyrus. When he left, he locked all the doors, making sure no one would be able to get through. Not even himself without using magic. He opened the door and heard screams far in the distance. He followed the noises, finding blood and dust splattered more and more as he got closer to the bloodshed. As he approached the heart of the battle, he recognized some of his friends on the edge of death, already turning into dust. Some of them called out to them, others didn’t. Most of them looked at him and smiled before leaving the earth forever. It pained him to see them this way, but after you’ve looked death in the eye over and over, you learn to get used to it. He didn’t know what to do to help them. He could give them a quick and painless death, or leave them to slowly die as they witnessed everything before them crumble apart. He decided he would ask the monsters if they wanted a quick death, and if they did, he would give them one. 

He didn’t realize it would increase his LOVE. It made sense, but at the same time, he wasn’t the one that caused the most damage. It was the humans. He thought maybe the humans would get the EXP, sense they were the ones that almost killed them, but they didn’t as far as Gaster knew. A lot of the monsters he asked slowly nodded their head, closed their eyes, and waited for the final blow that would end their lives. Some of the monsters that were extremely close to death said no, as it wouldn’t change in terms of pain or the time it would take for them to die. It hurt him to kill his friends, but he comforted himself in the thought that they didn’t have to suffer anymore.

After gaining some unwanted LOVE, Gaster continued to the eye of the battle. There weren’t definitive sides, just humans and monsters in a tangle of war. Immediately, a human jumped towards him with a sword, slashing the air as Gaster shifted to dodge his blows. He prepared his magic, summoning bones. He tried different patterns of complex structures, all of which the human seemed to traverse precisely and accurately. When Gaster blanked on a new attack, the human seized the opportunity and landed a blow from above, cracking his skull on the right side of his face. He felt the pain trickle out of him in doses of blood and dust. Irritated that he’d been so clumsy with his dodging, Gaster turned the human blue, greatly increasing the gravity for their SOUL. The sudden attack caught the human off guard, throwing their sword out of their hands. But they refused to be blue. They didn’t want this. They wanted Gaster dead, and he could feel it. Gaster strained to continue increasing the gravity, and once the human was fatigued enough, they didn’t move. Gaster shot a single bone through the human’s chest, and they gasped for a moment before laying still.

Gaster had labored breathing and was badly injured. The blood trickled down his skull and into his eyesockets, disrupting his vision. He couldn’t fight anymore. It was just too dangerous. He looked back, seeing monsters fighting for their freedom and lives. It pained him to know he was fleeing something so many monsters would sacrifice themselves for, but as narcissistic as it was, he was just too valuable to sacrifice himself. Plus, he had children. Lots of monsters did, but they usually had an expanded family that could take care of their children if they were to fall down. Gaster didn’t have any remaining family. He was part of a small group of relatives that abandoned him after he pursued science instead of the standard royal guard most skeletons were interested in.

After realizing he was no longer useful in the battle, he limped back to his home to try healing himself. When he arrived, he looked where he usually put his medicine. It wasn’t there. The trauma to his head made him forgetful. He spaced out, thinking where he put the medicine. Not piecing together where he put it, he went upstairs and called for Papyrus and Sans. He held his head, trying to make the bleeding stop. Sans opened the door to his study room. Gaster started to remember what happened. He waved at Sans and pointed to his head. Sans looked, then seemed to nod and head back to the room. Gaster waited outside the room, knowing Papyrus wasn’t old enough to comprehend what was happening. Even with Sans’ age, he seemed as wise as Gaster. Sans returned with some food, bandages, and pain killers. 

Sans started tending to his wound, as Gaster’s mind wandered between reality and unconsciousness. Once he was done, Sans started asking him what happened. Gaster explained that he went to fight, but got injured after killing a powerful human. Sans looked thoughtful. “what color was their SOUL?” Gaster thought, then responded, “It was purple.” Sans looked relieved. Gaster didn’t think much of it. He was probably worried over something he read in the SOUL magic book. Gaster glanced besides Sans, looking at Papyrus peeking from behind the door. Papyrus ran to Gaster, hugging him with his little arms. A smile spread across Gaster’s face. It hurt, but he still smiled. After an hour or two of catching up with his boys, he sent them to bed. Gaster checked all the doors and windows to make sure they were locked then headed to bed himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. This is my first time writing something on this platform, but I hope you enjoyed it. I know it's a little short, and I'm sorry about that, but next chapter will be longer, I promise. If you have any questions, comments, or want to tell me anything, you can email me at skye@jcarr.org. Thank you for reading! (next update 2.25.2020, aka 2 weeks from now)


End file.
